I was shopping in Glasgow yesterday, and at one of the relatively major chain stores the clothes were placed in a paper bag! Great! Or so it was until it started to rain... Paper bags + rain = ripping paper bags.

So - do you think switching to paper bags is the best option? Are plastic bags any better? Or are you a fan of the cloth bags? How about biodegradable bags, are these the best way forward? What do you think are the pros and cons of each and does that influence which you use?

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I normally use the large, strong plastic bags like the 9p ones from Lidl. Reasons? They are strong enough to carry a lot of goods and they can be folded right down to fit in my pocket so I don't have to carry anything around which is a big plus if you aren't sure if your going to be buying anything (and you don't have to fight a crazy bag if the wind gets up). They don't rip when they get wet and therefore the contents stay dry. They are also easy to clean if they get dirt on them as they just need to be wiped.

I can see the potential advantage of cloth bags, but they don't fit in my pocket (I don't have a handbag or anything - everything goes in my pockets!) and as I'm often doing other things as well as shopping such as going out for a walk and heading home via the shops they can be a pain especially if I'm trying to use my camera while holding onto a bag. And as they fit in a pocket, they can stay in a pocket so you can keep the bag with you where ever you go just in case you end up buying something (I killed my bag so that's why I didn't have it on me). Cloth bags also aren't invincible!

Paper bags...after yesterday...I think unless you have predominantly dry weather they aren't particularly useful to be honest. Fine if it's dry, but if it rains the paper bag is in trouble!

But how about biodegradable plastic bags? There are several ways of making these bags including from various organic materials that are similar to normal plastic bags, and they have the advantage that they can be composted. There have been trials of these types of carrier bags and you can buy them as bin liners etc so are these the real way forward?

Personally, I do think biodegradable carrier bags are probably going to be the way forward offering the benefits of plastic bags without the problems.

I think a mixture of cloth bags and biodegradable ones myself. My reason is simple... bio-degrades are great, but still brought and thrown away in mass quantities are a problem (just not as much of one).
It would be great if people would either get into the habit of having a cloth bag or one or two strong plastic bags to call their own when doing their shopping, but realistically, that isn't going to happen (at least not over night anyway).
So I would propose that bio-degrades replaces normal plastic bags (strong and weaker ones), and cloth bags are also sold. And people are encouraged (somehow) to REUSE them, whichever they opt for... should you forget your bag for whatever reason... you can still buy them, but hopefully eventually the amount being produced will be lowered.

I do actually remember a time when my mum used to have one of those huge plasticy, woven efforts - probably from the 80s? What happen to them?!

I would think that cloth bags are probably the best.

yeah no trees or plastic!

I prefer people to use cloth bags but i like to crochet my own expandable grocery bags from natural fibre yarns.. usually unbleached cotton.. but I've been looking for organic hemp fibres.

green to use and your bag could make a great green pressie for someone!

Most of the people I see in the grocery stores in my city use cloth bags. Almost every store makes you pay per bag for the plastic variety, or they offer you the boxes from shipping, which are then reused (great for moving) or recycled on garbage day. Most markets are happy to do it as it cuts down on needless overhead costs.

Co-op cloth bags are great! I use those and I also have a few cloth bags from the RSPB. I guess someone must have read my previous post because loads of stores are now bringing in handy cloth bags that fold right down to fit into a pocket